NitrateVille.com

Is this film by Paul Leni a lost film?

No. I have a copy of it.

Thanks.


Next question: Has anybody come across a 16mm print?

The silent version is certainly extant (and DVDs are easily obtainable on the gray market), but the part-talking version is lost. I have never come across a 16mm print, but I believe they're out there.

I've got a decent bootleg tape of it. Quite a good film.

I have never understood why Kino never tried to release this film like they did with other Universal-owned silents like The Cat and the Canary and The Man Who Laughed. It very well done and I would love to see and nice print of it.

colbyco82 wrote:I have never understood why Kino never tried to release this film like they did with other Universal-owned silents like The Cat and the Canary and The Man Who Laughed. It very well done and I would love to see and nice print of it.

Ask Jessica some time (preferable off list, this is a G rated board) and she can tell you why.

colbyco82 wrote:I have never understood why Kino never tried to release this film like they did with other Universal-owned silents like The Cat and the Canary and The Man Who Laughed. It very well done and I would love to see and nice print of it.

Cat and the Canary is PD. I think The Man Who Laughs was a one-shot deal.

Jim,

Your forgetting THE LOVE TRAP? Another One Shot deal? I agree that THE LAST WARNING was/is a great fit for Kino.

Gagman 66 wrote:Jim,

Your forgetting THE LOVE TRAP? Another One Shot deal? I agree that THE LAST WARNING was/is a great fit for Kino.

Actually, Kino did several Universal owned discs. But that was a few years after Man Who Laughs.

Right, Kino did several (I strongly recommend Counsellor At Law and The Good Fairy). Licensing anything from a studio though is an expensive proposition, it basically adds $10 or something to the list price, something people don't get when they kvetch about Criterion releases being $30 or $40 when Warners puts 'em out for $15, that sort of thing.

The other problem is that The Last Warning, though plenty of fun, is nowhere near the outstanding film that The Man Who Laughs is.

Also, Universal generally doesn't license to companies. Discs put out by Kino and Criterion of their films were special deals and for Kino, I believe that door is closed.

There are some very miserable looking bootlegs out there if you don't mind squinting your eyes. I might be wrong, but I don't think this one was a PT, just music and effects.

To answer the original question, THE LAST WARNING was released in 16mm for the non-theatrical market and at least two tinted original prints are known to survive. The late Rusty Casselton made a dupe negative from these and sold a few prints himself.

UNIVERSAL have beautiful 35mm preprint on the part-talking version. It's just one of the many, many films lying fallow in their vaults.

David Shepard

DShepFilm wrote:UNIVERSAL have beautiful 35mm preprint on the part-talking version. It's just one of the many, many films lying fallow in their vaults.

Now that's something crying out for a new print and exhibition at Cinecon!

Ed Hulse wrote:

DShepFilm wrote:UNIVERSAL have beautiful 35mm preprint on the part-talking version. It's just one of the many, many films lying fallow in their vaults.

Now that's something crying out for a new print and exhibition at Cinecon!

Well, unless the folks at Universal are not shooting straight, I don't believe this is correct. We've asked about this title and they've said thay have the 1938 film of the same title, but no material on the 1929. I'll ask again.

Well, Bob, I had it in my hands at the U vaults in New Jersey. Although that was, umm, 37 years ago. Maybe they did and now they don't.

David

As I recall there are a couple of stunning, black & white clips from THE LAST WARNING in Brownlow's doc UNIVERSAL HORROR. They didn't look like they came from a Show-at-Home print.

Those clips *were* from 16mm, I unfortunately recall. But it goes to show what a good 16mm can yield.